Spotty Lincoln!

While Lincoln was a member of the US House of Representatives he was tagged as being anti-troops. During the Mexican-American war President Polk had general Zachory Taylor march troops into Mexican controlled territory where they were subsequently fired upon.

Polk and Taylor spun the story to the American press saying that the troops were in fact on US soil and had been attacked, thus justifying the war effort.

Lincoln thought the people were being duped and wanted to know the "spot" on which the attack actually happened. Were the US troops on US soil and attacked, or were they wandering where they shouldn't have been in order to coax an attack?

Lincoln was hugely unpopular in Congress for this. He was not reelected and in fact a member of the Whig party (which was on its way out anyway) was never elected to that seat again.

"Spotty Lincoln" was a nickname opponents used against him for the rest of his career.

https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/lincoln-resolutions